business
Hosted by Andy Budd · business · EN
The Design VC is a podcast about the intersection of creativity and capital — and how design can help early-stage startups turn vision into traction. Each week, I talk with founders, investors, and founding designers about the decisions that shape the hunt for product–market fit: when to bring design in, what to look for in a great founding designer, and how design helps you earn traction (not just attention) by getting what you’re building into the hands of customers faster. We get practical about the questions founders actually have. When should I hire a designer? What value can design bring before you’ve nailed the product? How do you use design to sharpen positioning, improve onboarding, and increase activation — not just make things look nicer? Along the way, you’ll hear how investors think about design as a signal and a competitive edge, and how the best teams navigate the trade-offs — speed versus craft, instinct versus evidence, product
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Booking probability
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Signup to Generate a PitchThe Design VC is a podcast about the intersection of creativity and capital, and how design can help early-stage startups turn vision into traction.
The Design VC is hosted by Andy Budd. The show has published 12 episodes to date.
Recent episodes include "Simon Rohrbach (Plain): The Designer-to-Founder Reality Check, and How AI Changes Everything" (30 April 2026, 63 minutes), "Simon Rohrbach (Plain): The Designer-to-Founder Reality Check, and How AI Changes Everything" (30 April 2026, 63 minutes), and "Luke Wroblewski (Sutter Hill Ventures): The VC Who Pushes Pixels and Writes Sales Decks" (21 April 2026, 62 minutes).
The Design VC publishes roughly weekly, with episodes averaging 61 minutes across 12 episodes.
Booking probability for The Design VC is 29%, and the host is rated Selective on guests. The Design VC requires a Pod Score of 80 or higher. The Design VC's contact route on record: verified email.
The strongest fits for The Design VC are Design Services and Investment Banking & Trading. The Design VC has a business audience.
Andy Budd hosts The Design VC, a business podcast with 12 episodes published.
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Episode #12
<p>In this episode of The Design VC, Andy Budd sits down with Simon Rohrbach, founder and CEO of Plain, a customer support platform built for modern B2B teams. Andy first met Simon years ago when Simon was leading...
Episode #12
In this episode of The Design VC , Andy Budd sits down with Simon Rohrbach, founder and CEO of Plain, a customer support platform built for modern B2B teams. Andy first met Simon years ago when Simon was leading design...
Episode #11
<p>In this episode of The Design VC, Andy Budd sits down with Luke Wroblewski, one of the early pioneers of UX and interaction design, now Managing Director and Head of Product at Sutter Hill Ventures. Luke’s led design...
The Design VC
<p>In this episode of The Design VC, Andy Budd sits down with Luke Wroblewski, one of the early pioneers of UX and interaction design, now Managing Director and Head of Product at Sutter Hill Ventures. Luke’s led design...
Episode #10
<p>Irene Au is one of those rare people who helped shape modern product design from the inside, then took those lessons into venture.<br /><br />In this episode of The Design VC, Andy Budd sits down with Irene, who was...
Episode #9
<p>It might surprise some listeners to hear that, as a VC, I spend a lot of my time encouraging founders to think twice before taking traditional VC money.</p><p>Not because VC is “bad”, but because it comes with a very...
Episode #8
<p>In this episode of The Design VC, Andy Budd sits down with his old friend Marty Ringlein for one of those conversations that’s equal parts entertaining and genuinely useful.</p><p></p><p>Marty has a rare career arc...
Episode #7
<p>In this episode of The Design VC, Andy Budd sits down with Jeff, one of the founders of Adaptive Path, co-founder of MeasureMap (acquired by Google), founder of Typekit (which went on to become part of Adobe Creative...
Episode #7
<p>In this episode of The Design VC, Andy Budd sits down with Jeff, one of the founders of Adaptive Path, co-founder of MeasureMap (acquired by Google), founder of Typekit (which went on to become part of Adobe Creative...
Episode #6
<p>Most weeks, as a VC, I’m talking to founders who want to build huge, global, venture-scale companies. So this conversation with Jessica Hische was a breath of fresh air.<br /></p><p>Jessica is one of the most...
Episode #5
<p>In this episode of The Design VC, Andy Budd talks with Ben Blumenrose, co-founder and managing partner of Designer Fund, about what it really looks like when design becomes the organising principle, not the...
Episode #4
<p>In this week’s episode of <b>The Design VC</b>, Andy Budd sits down with <b>Sam Stevenson</b>, designer-turned co-founder of <b>Granola</b>, “the AI notepad built for people in back-to-back meetings.”</p><p>Granola...
Episode #3
<p>A lot of early-stage problems don’t look like “design problems” at first. They look like confusion. Misalignment. A story that isn’t landing. A team shipping hard but not getting traction.</p><p></p><p>In this...
Episode #2
<p>Most startups don’t fail because the team can’t build. They fail because they can’t decide what to build, and they waste months proving it the slow way.</p><p></p><p>In this episode I’m joined by <b>Jake Knapp and...
Episode #1
<p>Intercom didn’t start as Intercom. In this first episode of <b>The Design VC</b>, <b>Des Traynor</b> takes us back to the scrappy days of running a design consultancy with a side project, and the moment a tiny in-app...
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